Carrot Cake

Carrot cake. Sweet and spicy, just like you, this healthy dessert puts more orange beauty in a room than Snooki and George Hamilton at Autumnfest.

This cake is seriously brimming over with righteous; so much so, the kids, who initially heard the words “carrot cake” and gave me the someone-put-carrots-in-my-cake? face, ate half of this rich, brimming with Charlie Sheen #winning cake within the next 18 hours. Half. Of a 9 X 13 pan. That’s a lot of cake. I anticipate the rest of what is sheer spice cake fantasticness will be ingested this afternoon just after the backpacks hit the floor. Must. hide. some.

Because many carrot cakes call for nuts, I’ve used my own nut concoction, a coarse grind of almonds, macadamias and cashews. For this recipe and for simplicity, I’m calling for ground almond flour. You can use a finer ground flour if you wish, but you might going to miss out on the nutty crunch of some of the coarser flour. The addition of ground flax seed meal is because I’ve never liked a fully nut-flour baked dish (save for my cheesecake crusts). Flax absorbs some of the excess moisture and keeps the cake moist without falling apart.

I use Ideal sweetener in this recipe, but since it measures 1:1 with sugar, you can substitute with anything else you have that you like to use for baking, from Splenda to erythritol/xylitol. I’ve reviewed the regular Ideal blend review and the Brown Sugar blend review, so if you live near an Albertson’s, it’s worth a trip to the store. Please note that the Ideal is not carb-free, and accounts for some of the carb count in this cake. If you want to swap out my sweetener for yours, the nutritional facts are broken down for these products after the recipe.

Recommendation: Bake the cake the day before when possible to mellow out the flavors and the sweetener. While the cake is absolutely tremendous right out of the oven, letting the product rest after baking helps the flavors meld and the cake not taste ‘too sweet’. Some things get better with age: pumpkin pie and lasagna and George Clooney, for example. This cake is the same way.

I’d also recommend only frosting the cake the next day before serving, unless you chill the cake in the fridge. I let mine rest on the counter, and cream cheese frosting should stay cold or it tends to soften.

Mix sugars, oil and egg for a minute on medium with a mixer or by hand. Add the rest of the ingredients, one at a time, and mix until well blended. Bake for 30 minutes or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan.

Justin, thank you for being my muse on this one. You are phenomenal and I'm so proud of your efforts to live a healthier lifestyle!

Lexi's: I think you could use at least part coconut flour. I haven't had a load of success with coconut flour (I keep trying, though!), so I went with the flax, since it's also thirsty and absorbs up that excess moisture. You could try using the nuts and sub out the flax with coconut and see what happens.

I just made this and it was not good…it was GREAT!!! No, not great, that’s an understatement, it was amazing. I can’t tell you how excited I was when I made the recipe and took a delicious first bite. So simple, and no modifications necessary. It’s not even a carrot cake substitute, because it actually tastes like real carrot cake! Thanks so much for the recipe:) Definitely on of my staple desserts from now on.

I am so glad, Kelsey! I am a skeptic, too, so when I got the idea and gave it a try, I was very pleasantly surprised. Nay, thrilled! I’ll be making it again soon. Thank you so much for your terrific feedback!

This is the best LC desert recipe I have tried. I have been contemplating other variations for fun such as zucchini cake. Instead of the Ideal white I used half Splenda and half erythritol and that was a good balance to cut the carb count. Thank you for a delicious treat!

Not a problem. If you can’t use almond flour, try using a combination of coconut flour meal from sugar-free dessicated coconut and flax seed meal. I’d say process to end with cup of coconut and then add 1/2 cup flax seed meal.

And then, to be honest, I’d make 1/4 size of the batch, just to be sure you like it before committing to an entire batch. Make some muffins or use a mini loaf pan.

I made this yesterday and OMG this is really good. Sometime while low carbing you have to settle for less flavor but not with this. I used Truvia and made the Truvia brown sugar you have on this web site. At first I wasn’t sure I liked it but as you said the flavors mellow and the next day it was the best. Thanks for all you do.

this looks and sounds awesome. Can coconut oil be used in place of the vegetable oil? I think I can make the xylitol or erythiritol sugars work in your make your own recipes, but I don’t actually own veggie oil anymore. 🙂 Please and thanks!